Sinful Haven

by Brook Wilder

  All I needed was the perfect shot.

  Setting up the high-powered rifle along the low-lying wall of the nearly crushed house, I worked with my scope until I felt like it was the best angle I had.

  The whole time I was methodically getting ready for the job, I thought about the texts and phone calls from Elisa. She had blown up my phone over the last few hours and I could tell that she was worried. I hadn’t called or come home.

  It had been a long, long time since someone was that worried about me, though I figured by the time I did get back, she was going to gut me for making her worry like this.

  This was gonna be the last one. I was tired of Voodoo using our people as leverage to carry out the feds’ dirty work.

  Chuckling, I thought about how my life had shifted over the last few days. Before Elisa, I would have been nearly gleeful to take contracts like this, the more violence the better.

  But now, there was someone waiting on me at home, someone I was going to have to do some groveling to to get her to talk to me again.

  That and I had to figure out what we were going to do about her career as well. I wasn’t stupid. I had heard how she wanted to go back to work, though the thought terrified me.

  She would be in the middle of danger. I saw red when I thought about her being in the middle of the crossfire and me unable to protect her.

  Shit, this had gotten complicated in a hurry.

  I didn’t want to hurt her. I wanted her to be with me and not just because she was Will’s little sister.

  No, I wanted her to be with me because I had fucking feelings for her. Every time I looked into her eyes, I saw a future I had long given up on, a future worth living.

  A future outside of the club.

  But that would mean I would have to give up something. We would have to compromise on something. The club was my life and her nursing career was hers. What would I do without the club, without this business? I couldn’t sit at a desk like my parents. That was completely out of the fucking question. My military career was over and the pension I received good, but it wasn’t enough to support a family.

  Shit, was I really thinking about a family with Elisa?

  Shaking out of my thoughts, I stuck my eye against the scope again. This was madness. Hell, I had only slept with her, not dropped any feelings or any future plans.

  Though I had known her all my life.

  Polanco came into view and I went on high alert, watching as the man aimlessly walked along the sidewalk, winking and smiling at girls milling about. It was late afternoon now and traffic was becoming lighter. That was what I was hoping for.

  I sucked in a breath, letting it out slowly as I settled the crosshairs on his head. One clean shot. That was all I needed. One shot and his head would explode, and I would be long gone before anyone even realized where the bullet had come from.

  I just needed a clean shot.

  Finally, Polanco stopped on the corner, reaching into his pocket for a cigar and a lighter.

  There.

  There was my shot.

  I fired, feeling the recoil as the bullet whizzed toward Polanco.

  A gas truck decided to pull in front of him at the exact moment the bullet would have hit him and exploded, the heat of the blast blowing me back a few feet.

  Shit.

  Scrambling back to the rifle, I tried to ignore the screams as I located Polanco in the scope. He was putting out the fire on his arm, but still no worse for wear.

  Shit. I wouldn’t get off another shot now, not with all the people running toward the injured.

  I grabbed the rifle and slung it over my shoulder, darting through the abandoned buildings to stay out of the mob. I couldn’t believe I had fucked this up so badly.

  Luckily, I got through the city without being stopped, the fatigues I wore similar in nature to the patrolling guards. No one spared me half a glance, though I didn’t breathe until I was on the outskirts of the city.

  A failed job. I didn’t fail at jobs. I finished them and got the hell out of there.

  That hadn’t happened today.

  “Way to fuck that up.”

  I turned to see Voodoo waiting in the shadows, a cigarette in his mouth.

  “Shut the hell up.”

  He chuckled, clearly unfazed. “Come on. I got a truck waiting. We’ve got to get out of this shithole before we’re noticed.”

  I followed him because I had no other choice, climbing in the back of the covered truck with Voodoo before it took off rumbling down the road. I sat the rifle down in disgust, pissed at myself because I had caused more civilian deaths and failed a mission at the same time.

  “I thought you were good, the best.”

  I raised my eyes to him. “I am. I can’t fucking help that the truck pulled up at the same time.”

  “No, I guess you can’t,” Voodoo said after a moment. “Problem is, Polanco is still alive which means you haven’t completed the mission.”

  I didn’t respond, figuring I was going to hit him if I even looked in his direction. He didn’t have to remind me I hadn’t done the job. That was apparent.

  Now I would have to come back to complete it, which was the bigger issue. I would have to disappear on Elisa again and something told me I wouldn’t be escaping this one when I returned home. Not only had I not answered her texts and calls, but she was going to hear about this failed mission and want to know why I had once again put civilians in danger.

  I had promised her I wouldn’t.

  The truck shuddered to a stop. “This is our stop,” Voodoo announced, climbing out the back. I could already hear the sound of a chopper before I even climbed out, sighing as I grabbed my gear to follow him. All I really wanted to do was get back on American soil and lay eyes on Elisa.

  Even with the shit hitting the fan, she was what I craved. I could deal with her anger, deal with the repercussions of my failed mission later.

  I just wanted to see her.

  The chopper ride was short and somehow, as night settled around us, we got back across the border without any issue. It touched down and Voodoo nudged my arm. “This is where you get out, Private.”

  I looked out of the open door, glad to see a truck waiting in the distance. At least he wasn’t going to make me walk the rest of the way.

  “I’ll be in touch,” he said through the headphones. “This mission will be complete, or I can’t be responsible for what will happen as a result.”

  “I’ll complete it,” I growled before ripping off the headphones and climbing out of the chopper with my gear. He didn’t need to tell me what was at stake.

  I was well aware of what I had to lose.

  Chapter 16

  Elisa

  I dropped the spoon into the bowl, full of the ridiculous amount of ice cream I had consumed. It was a little after nine at night and I had yet to hear from Rex or Damian. My concern and worry had morphed into anger and I was tired of being the person waiting.

  I was tired of being ignored, really.

  Disgusted, I slid off the stool and took the bowl over to the sink, then rinsed it off. Sabrina had been a good distraction for a while today, and by the time I had been driven back to Damian’s house, my head was buzzing from the amount of beer we had consumed.

  A nap and a hot shower had cured it, but it hadn’t soothed my anger toward him.

  Okay maybe not so much anger as it was hurt, hurt that he felt like he couldn’t trust me with whatever he was doing.

  Hurt that he had effectively shut me out of that part of his life while trying to control mine. Sabrina had told me not to let my anger cloud my good judgement, to at least hear Damian out when he came home, and I was going to attempt to do just that.

  But I wanted the truth.

  My cell suddenly buzzed on the island and I tried not to lunge for it, my heart pounding in my chest. Was it Damian finally returning a text?

  Or was it Rex with news that I didn’t want to hear?

  Either way, I was
n’t going to know until I looked at it.

  Grasping the phone in my hand, I pulled up the screen, frowning when I saw a text with an unknown number. I opened the text and scrolled through the three pictures that were attached, with no words to give me any indication of who might be sending them.

  But as I blew up the photos on my phone, it was clear why I had gotten them. One was of Damian dressed in the same fatigues Mexican military favored.

  I should know. I had seen them far too much in my career.

  He carried a rifle slung over his shoulder, his face hidden by the hat on his head, but there was no doubt it was Damian.

  The second picture took my breath away, my heart twisting in my chest. A bomb had gone off in the middle of the street, with bodies strewn on the outer edges.

  Oh no.

  The third picture was of Damian climbing onto a helicopter, his hat now gone revealing his facial features clearly even in the dying sun.

  There could only be one reason someone would send those pictures to me.

  Damian had not kept his promise. He had put civilians in danger again going after some sort of target and there were casualties.

  No wonder he hadn’t responded. He had his own mess to deal with.

  I sat the phone back on the island, biting my lip in the process. I did not want to see this. I wished I hadn’t seen it. Those pictures just confirmed what I had felt in my heart all day long and I didn’t know how to handle it at all. Damian would be back and right now I couldn’t form two coherent words in my brain to even confront him with this, this proof.

  What was I going to do?

  Well, one thing was for sure. I was going back out into the field whether Damian liked it or not. This war was not slowing down and the organization I worked for would need an extra set of hands willing to go into the crossfire. That was all I knew and while I wouldn’t have my team, it didn’t mean I couldn’t continue my work.

  Reaching for my phone, I called the main office, letting them know I was okay and carefully explained how I had avoided being killed, leaving large gaps in my story and not mentioning I was currently a guest of the Rough Jesters. My supervisor was nearly tearful as she told me how relieved she was to hear my voice and how they had yet to contact my next of kin in hopes that the authorities would find me.

  Lucky for me, my next of kin was just a friend and not my parents.

  I ended the call with promises of starting again at the end of the week, and she provided the location of my next assignment and said she would let authorities know that I was safe. I didn’t reveal where I was at, knowing they would want to question me, and I was in no position to answer any questions.

  The last thing I needed to do was to bring any police or Feds to the Rough Jesters.

  I certainly wasn’t going to work for the CIA anymore. That Voodoo guy scared me, as if he wanted something more and the way that Damian just bent to his will made me wonder what he had on him or the club itself. Was he blackmailing Damian? I doubted he was paying him for his services and my gut reaction was that this recent attack had something to do with Voodoo.

  Still, it didn’t mean he had to hide it from me. What if he had died or gotten kidnapped over there? What if I was stuck inside this house waiting for word and not knowing where to even begin looking? I knew this was his life, I wasn’t trying to change that, but I thought...

  Well, maybe I had thought wrong. Maybe he didn’t care about me like I had been assuming all along. Maybe my thoughts of his feelings were that of a nineteen-year-old girl wanting her crush to notice her.

  If that was the case, then I was crushed. I’d thought he and I had something else together. I loved him. This was no passing fancy. The more I got to discover who he really was, my heart grew with love.

  Apparently, he didn’t feel the same way.

  Feeling dejected now, I walked from the kitchen and wandered down the hall, to the study where his military honors were on full display. I knew his military career was a sore point, but I was so proud of what he had accomplished.

  There were photos as well, photos of Damian in his full military gear posing overseas, a gun in his hand. There were photos of him and Will together, their arms slung over each other’s shoulders as they grinned at the camera. My heart constricted as I looked at my brother’s face, permanently etched in my brain at that age that would never fade. His casket had been a closed one, so the only memories we had of how he looked was in photos and in our own minds.

  Now I knew why we hadn’t been allowed to see him one last time.

  Reaching out, I stroked the photo, the two young guys with nothing to lose and with a friendship that had lasted throughout the years. What would Will be like if he was here today? Would he have gotten married, had kids by now?

  Who would Damian be if Will was still alive? Would we be together, given the crush he had on me before he left for his tour? I wouldn’t be doing what I was today if the tables were turned. Likely I would be working in the hospital that my parents believed I was and hopefully happily married to the only man I had ever loved.

  It would have been such a change for both our families as well.

  Dropping my hand, I wrapped my arms around my waist instead, staring at the photo. I missed Will every day. There wasn’t a day that went by that I didn’t think of him or what he might have been like today. Some of the memories were starting to grow fuzzy, but my love for my brother would never fade.

  I just wished he was here, right now, to guide me in what I had to do. I couldn’t live like this. I had a life before Damian, a career I was proud of. Sure, I didn’t have someone in my life, but given the events over the last few hours, I almost felt like I had been better off.

  Almost.

  Sighing, I walked out of the study and back to the bedroom. There was nothing left for me to do but wait for Damian to arrive now and hope he would come back in one piece.

  I honestly couldn’t deal with it otherwise.

  I stripped off my borrowed clothes and threw on one of his long-sleeved shirts guiltily, attempting to remember what it was like before everything had changed. Tomorrow things were going to be different. Tomorrow I would be leaving, going back to my life, and it would be up to Damian as to how much he wanted to be part of it.

  Chapter 17

  Damian

  “Shit.”

  I slumped in the chair, exhaustion buzzing around the edges of my brain. I was fucking exhausted and wanting to go home, but the club had to be my first stop.

  I had to tell Chains I had failed. “I’m going back.”

  Chains looked up, his tired eyes connecting with mine. “Of course you are. The solider never fails a mission, right?”

  I gave him a tired grin. “Yeah, that’s my motto.”

  He didn’t return my grin, leaning back in his chair instead. “What about if you don’t, Machine Gun? What’s the ramifications?”

  Surprised he would even suggest that, I swallowed. “Well, we get exposed to the feds and they take us all downtown to rot away in a prison for the rest of our lives. This time, they will add Elisa to the list.”

  “Ah,” Chains breathed. “I got it now. If you were just sticking out your neck for the clubs, I would tell you to tell Voodoo to fuck off, but your girl is involved so I understand.”

  I gave him a tight nod, the thought of Elisa thrown into jail because of something I did making me sick to my stomach. “I’m not going to let anything happen to her.”

  Chains chuckled. “Well, you might want to go home in full body armor. She was here a few hours ago and none too pleased that you were ignoring her calls.”

  I swore inwardly. I wasn’t surprised, but I had hoped, well, I would have to deal with it. “She will understand.”

  “Words of a man who’s never seen a woman’s wrath,” Chains added, shaking his head. “Go home. Grovel on the floor, tell her you’re sorry for making her worry like that. But whatever you do, don’t tell her that it’s your fucking business. Wo
men don’t like that, especially if they see the relationship as a partnership.”

  I half listened to his words, but the last sentence hit me full force. Was this a relationship? Did I want one with Elisa? I knew I didn’t want to let her go, which meant I was fully planning to make this work somehow.

  Which meant my life was changing.

  “If there is retaliation, we will deal with it,” Chains was saying, tapping his fingers along his desk. “But more importantly, we need to make sure we keep a close eye on Voodoo. I’m still not sold that he will keep his word once this dirty business is complete.”